DeForest Kelley, who played the curmudgeonly Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy
in the original Star Trek series, died on June 11, 1999, at the
age of 79. He was the first member of the original Star Trek cast
to pass away.

Initially approached for the role of the Vulcan science officer Mr.
Spock, Kelley was instead cast as the ship's chief medical officer,
described by series creator Gene Roddenberry as "a future-day H.L.
Mencken". An unabashed cynic of technology, the McCoy character was a
self-described old fashioned country doctor who put more faith in
humanity than high technology.

In a 1982 interview with author Allan Asherman, Kelley said McCoy
represented "the perspective of the audience, that if you were along on
the voyage you'd think, 'These people are crazy! How in the hell do they
expect to do that?'" Indeed, the McCoy character was often used to
interject a dose of reality, interpret the techno-babble, and explain
the frequently convoluted plotting of the more arcane Trek
adventures to those in the audience struggling to follow the science
fiction storylines.

His summary of the plot of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home,
delivered in exasperated disbelief to the gung-ho Captain Kirk, still
stands as one of the best examples of exposition in screen history:

"You're proposing that we go backwards in time, find humpbacked whales,
then bring them forward in time, drop 'em off, and hope to hell they
tell this probe what to go do with itself?!" The entire plot in fewer
than 35 words. That's Bones for you.

The son of a Baptist minister, Jackson DeForest Kelley wanted to be a
doctor like an uncle he greatly admired, but his family couldn't afford
to send him to medical school. He instead became a
character actor who worked steadily in film and television from the late
1940s through the 1960s.Star Trek's popularity in
syndication essentially ended his acting career, but he considered
himself fortunate to be associated with a role that made him a permanent
icon in popular culture, and he made a comfortable living by reprising
his character for the motion picture series and appearing on the
convention circuit.

Asherman's interview ended with a quote that could serve as an accurate
and fitting epitaph:

"I'd wanted to be a physician and couldn't- and yet became the most
well-known doctor in the galaxy."